School board OKs new wage, benefit packages

The compensation packages for the school district’s employees, including salaries and benefits, for the 2015-16 school year was approved April 14 by members of the Big Horn County School District No. 3 board of trustees.

Supt. Barry Bryant said the board rose the teacher base by $1,200 and moves on steps and lanes. For classified employees, the board boosted each employee’s hourly rate by 40 cents and allowed step movements.

For all employees, the board continued the health insurance, discretionary days and retirement offerings, with no changes.

Playground project

The board also awarded the bid for the resurfacing of the Greybull Elementary School playground. Three bids were received and reviewed by Engineering Associates. The Legislature approved $150,000, but the low bid of $169,000 from Great Western exceeded that estimate.

The board agreed to proceed with the project. Bryant said he’s going to try to ask the state to pay for the overrun. If he’s unsuccessful, the board will need to dip into its major maintenance dollars.

Other news

In other April 14 business:

The school board recognized Ron Fiene, longtime owner of Ron’s Food Farm, as its stakeholder of the month. Bryant gave Fiene a Greybull Buff jacket with his name embroidered on it as a token of appreciation for all that he did in support of Greybull schools and students.

The day of the meeting, Tuesday, April 14, just happened to be the day that the ownership transfer from Fiene to Kent and Brent Foulger took effect. A Blair’s store is now in business in that location.

Two fifth graders, Nathaniel Boreen and Irving Castro, were on hand to make Chromebook presentations, both of them in the field of science. Teachers Nancy Nelson and Jamie Flitner assisted in the presentations and shared how they are using the Chromebooks and various Google applications in their classrooms.

Kay Fleek approached the school board with an idea that was presented to her by a former classmate, Bill Trumbull, who “graduated from Basin but calls Greybull home.” Trumbull does not live in the area now, however, which is why Fleek was in front of the board, speaking on his behalf.

Trumbull’s idea is to research the number of professional athletes who grew up in Greybull and to develop a monument of some kind for them, possibly somewhere at the football field. He mentioned three GHS grads who went on to play pro football: Jim Crawford, Tom Wilkinson, Brett Keisel and Lee Kizzire (who spent one year with the Lions).

Trumbull envisions a monument on the northeast side of the football field, adjacent to the basketball courts, that would also incorporate some landscaping and an American flag in honor of the nation’s veterans.

Fleek said funds would need to be raised for the project.

Supt. Barry Bryant said a site would need to be identified first, before the project gets too far along. The location is the key, he said, because “once you put it down, it’s there…there’s no moving it.”

Later in the meeting, the board agreed that it would appear to be an expensive undertaking, that the district wouldn’t fund it and that Trumbull and his group would have to raise all of the money.

In the staff reports, GHS Principal Ty Flock said interviews are underway for the band and choir position being vacated by Michael Jaycox, who is moving to the elementary to replace Darla Haller.

The resignation of Kaitlyn Barnes, a special education paraprofessional, was accepted.

Also accepted was the resignation of rec board member Joe Forcella. The board is seeking applicants to complete his term on the board.

The board approved a change in the district’s credit card provider from Capital One to Pinnacle Bank. The district has a long running relationship with Pinnacle, which is the card bus drivers have used for over 20 years.

The home school registrations of five students, ranging in age from 6 to 12 and all from the same family, were approved.

Also approved were requests for eight students currently living outside the district to attend school in Greybull, in all cases for the 2015-16 school year and in the case of five of the eight, for the remainder of the 2014-15 school year.

The board extended the leave of a classified employee, Mrs. Stacy Scott, through the end of the current school year.

The board accepted the recommendation of its superintendent regarding the issuance of contracts to classified personnel for the 2015-16 school year.